During the operation of a turbine engine, turbine vanes, among other components, are subjected to high temperature combustion gases. The vanes can be coated with a thermal insulating material or a thermal barrier coating designed to protect the vanes from such an environment. Over time, these coatings can become damaged due to wear, impact, and other factors. Failure of the coating can result in the development of unacceptably high thermal stresses, which, in turn, can result in catastrophic failure of the vane.
Currently, detection and quantification of vane coating damage is accomplished by visual inspection while the engine is off-line. Because the vanes are stationary components, many separate entries into the turbine must be made to visually inspect each of the vanes. Such a process is time consuming, laborious and expensive. Thus, there is a need for a system that can assess the condition of a thermal coating on a turbine vane during engine operation.